Celestia's Nightmare CHAPTER 1
by ScarlettScribe
Summary: This is a story of why Luna was REALLY sent to the moon, it is a story of family bonds and conspiracies. Luna is travelling through pony's dreams when she stumbles upon a very disturbing dream from her sister, Princess Celestia. Luna must choose whether to take action in order to stop a possible catastrophe from being caused or to believe her sister. But is Celestia safe to trust?


Celestia's Nightmare

Princess Luna travelled through a dark void of infinite space. She was well-accustomed with this lonely area, though she had never spent more than a minute wandering its land, but the minute's she had spent there now added up to decades, centuries even. For Luna was in that tiny slot of nothingness between pony's dreams, the space between very different realities that only the owner of that world was allowed to tread. Well, the owner and Luna.

After just coming from an interesting dreamworld (one from a pony named Raindrops), Luna was quickly stepping over the eerie silence and into the next dream.

Normally, if a pony was having a nice dream, Luna would immediately have a warm feeling of calm flush over her body. Though she liked this feeling, she never stayed for long in the happy dreams because while she lingered other ponies were suffering from horrifying nightmares.

She crossed into the next dream and, yes, Luna felt the warm, tingling sensation flush from the tip of her horn right down to her hooves. She had no reason to stay long here.

_Celestia._

Oh? It occurred to Luna that she was in her beloved sister's dream! But...of course it would be rude to interrupt her sister's happiness out of pure curiosity. So Luna decided to leave, as she would with any other pony.

But...no. Something was wrong. The dream was coming into focus now; it was very dark so she couldn't see much, but she could see withered shadows of ponies moving weakly in rhythm to the sound of heavy machinery. She heard whimpers and cries, and then a quiet chuckle. Luna peered upwards to see her sister, Princess Celestia, standing on some sort of rocky cliff that looked like it had been pony-made in order to overlook the grounds below. Celestia was grinning with wide eyes at what Luna could now see were ponies slaving away at machines while being savagely struck with magical whips. Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns alike were all either chained next to conveyer belts or pulling heavy carts. Some poor ponies, however, were lying either dead or unconscious on the cold concrete floor and a few were huddling in corners until the whips found them and slapped them back on their hooves.

"Celestia?" a quiet whisper escaped Luna's parted lips, but the noise was enough to gain everypony's attention. The workers froze in fear and confusion, Celestia shared with her sister a worried look as she realised what was happening. She opened her mouth but then closed it again. She shook her head as if trying to shake herself back together, and then glided down the ledge and to her sister.

"Luna," Celestia said softly, "I...I'm sorry, look, I know I can't exactly explain this but..."

But Luna wasn't replying, Celestia doubted if she even heard anything she said. Not that it mattered, she hadn't been able to come up with any kind of excuse, there was never going to be an excuse for why the enslavement of ponies was a good dream for her.

"Luna," Celestia repeated. She tapped her sister lightly with her hoof which seemed to bring her back to reality, well, Celestia's current reality.

"What is this?" Luna asked slowly,

"I'm sorry, it's just a little thought I had once and then it got out of hoof. I really didn't mean to dream this, or for you to find it. I'm so sorry, sister," Celestia rambled, "I know there's no excuse and I am sorry. You know how dreams are, I can't control what I think when I'm asleep."

"Of course you can," Luna replied, a little rougher, "dreams are just subconscious thoughts. I know you can't control them unless you're aware that it's a dream but, Celestia...this is just wrong!"

"I know," Celestia sighed and let out a sob as delicate tears trickled down her cheeks, "I swear it won't happen again, I promise. But, please, can we keep this between us? I would never harm the ponies of my kingdom, you know that, but it would scare them to know of this,"

Luna was still shocked, but the teary-eyed face of her sister, who she loved with all her heart, was impossible to turn down. She knew that this place should be a nightmare for anypony, especially for a ruler, but maybe it was just an honest mistake?

"Ok," she replied and her sister's face lit up,

"Oh, thank you Luna! I know I can trust you no matter what, thank you for giving me this chance," Celestia exclaimed happily, throwing her hooves around Luna's neck and hugging her tightly.

"It's ok," Luna said quietly.

Then suddenly she was in the castle again. On the balcony from where she looked over Canterlot's night, to be precise. Luna was no longer in Celestia's dream, so therefore it must be time for dawn.

"Luna," a voice said behind her, Luna turned around to see her newly awoken sister.

Celestia kissed her lightly on the forehead and whispered a "thank you" before walking up to the edge of the balcony and peering out at the beautiful night sky.

Celestia's horn began to glow a golden yellow as she began her morning routine of raising the sun, Luna joined her and started to lower the moon as her horn shimmered a deep blue.

After it was done, Luna quickly went inside and left the day in Celestia's trusted hooves. But were they really to be trusted?

Though she felt good about her maintained good relationship with her sister, Luna still had many queries that bothered her; that dream was a 'good' dream for Celestia, why in Equestria would her sister like to see such suffering? Is Celestia not telling her something? Was it really a good idea to agree not to tell somepony about Celestia's strange desire? Maybe some of these questions would be answered soon, but for now she simply had to wait...


End file.
